Things I've Learned During the Unemployed Phase

"It’s been quite a blessing experience, and for that I am truly grateful"

Businesses can’t take risks in employing college graduates these days. When I look up entry-level positions, they want someone with 2-5 years of experience. This reduces the risk companies have to take in training someone they don’t know will stay with the company. 75% of cost is unrecovered in the first six months of training a graduate. Most college graduates don’t really know what career path they want to stick to either. Businesses can’t take a lot of risk in general. Why not? 

I have become more aware of our economic playground. If I had gotten into a job out of college I probably wouldn’t pay much attention to the economy and the decisions that politicians make. Increases in Tax legislation can decrease income. Businesses now have less money. That means less money to invest and take risk with. There's too much risk in hiring college grads without solid experience. It’s not just the politicians that affect our economy; it’s also the moral compass that our country is shifting to.  But this isn’t a political article, and more on this may come later.

At this point though, I’ve learned more progressive chord changes on the guitar as well as the piano. I’ve written four new songs, and rewritten three of them. As you know, writing music is a hobby of mine. This part of me probably wouldn’t change even if I were employed. I love music. Sure would be nice to have some people to jam with.

I’ve learned how to cook. When you live at home, and you aren’t employed you have quite a bit of free time. Because both my parents work full time jobs, I decided to volunteer by cooking. It’s easy right? You just look up a recipe online and follow it. Wrong? Remember that a Teaspoon is not the same as a tablespoon and if it’s salt you’re adding, that can be a problem. Oops! “Isn’t this amazing Dad? Who would’ve thought your son would cook you dinner?” I can cook a pretty good set of corn bread.

I’ve driven across Northern California, and I am now familiar with the surrounding cities of the San Francisco Bay Area: Pleasanton, Bodega Bay, Sebastopol and basically all the cities you would know by the time you became a local. I feel that I have had quite the experience in meeting Californians, though I haven’t actually gotten to know any yet.

The Napa Valley Drivers are slow. I’m guessing it has to do with the simple life and the scenic view. Tourists like to come here and just drive slow, especially on the curves.

As an auto enthusiast, if you’ve ever wanted to drive a muscle car in manual transmission, this is not the place to do it. There is quite a bit of stop and go traffic, large populations, and plenty of curves. If your car can’t handle curves, you might find it rather enjoyable on long drives.

I have always wanted to go to the shooting range. Strange that I lived in Texas my whole life where guns are a popular thing to experience but I never found the time to do it. Not to mention, guns honestly scare me. When I see a gun I can’t help but think “dangerous”. But hey, I’ll use the Second Amendment and “Dangers” My middle name.

I have always known California to be liberal, but I haven’t seen anything that

Would be absurd? I did notice that when I asked for a local “bible study” the church constituents looked at me strange and responded “Bible study?” for the high school kids maybe. But it might just be the Napa Valley Catholic Church; that and Texas is part of the Bible belt. If I ever prayed for anything it was to learn and experience something new and I think my prayers for that have been answered.

In addition to that, working out with no equipment has been interesting. Napa Valley doesn’t have any worthwhile gyms that are under $100 per month. I doubt there are very many “smart” girls there to talk to either. As I result I now do squats, push-ups, sit-ups, dips, and much more using only my body weight. Believe me, that is not a problem. There is plenty of body weight to lift here.

The biggest accomplishment so far is figuring out what I want to do for a career. So far, I have two interviews scheduled: one this Wednesday with and one on Monday. We’ll see how this goes. The companies aren’t scams either. I learned how to scope those out as well. 

It’s been quite a blessing experience, and for that I am truly grateful.